Art with Fabric Blog Hop

Yay! It's my day to show my Fabric Artwork on the Art with Fabric Blog Hop!

I've had sew much fun creating my fabric wall hanging. Being a part of this Hop has allowed me to take a sabbatical from my comfort zone, use my imagination and create a textile piece that I won't mind displaying in my home. Shouts of THANKS go out to Alida from Tweety Loves Quilting for all the time she's put into organizing this Blog Hop.

When Alida first contacted me about participating I was very hesitant. I knew very little about conventional art, fine art or works by artist in current or past times. I guess you can say I was/am  "art challenged". How was I going to create a textile piece based on a work of art (painting, sculpture, drawing, architecture, etc).  Yes...I knew about Michael Angelo and was familiar with other old era artists but that was as far as my art knowledge went and for that matter it didn't go very deep. So after the second email I received from Alida I thought...okay...before I commit let me see if I can be inspired by any artist out there.  I found a museum website that listed artists from different eras in alphabetical order and photos of their work.  I started clicking randomly on artist names, viewing their works and I found A LOT that did not inspire me!  The works were beautiful but nothing was happening on the creative side of my brain. When I did find my inspirational artist,  I knew it immediately! I WAS INSPIRED! His work spoke to me like no other artist did!

My inspirational artist was...

Henri Rousseau

His works consist of scenes that include people interacting with nature, animals and landscapes.

The paintings that inspired my fabric artwork were:

The Dream

and The Poultry Yard

I basically designed my piece as I was creating it. I knew I wanted a rooster inspired from The Poultry Yard and I wanted flowers and greenery inspired from The Dream. I went with those thoughts and made changes here and there during the creating process. 

I found this Rooster on EQ7 and thought it would look great as an appliqué. 

I love love love Batik fabrics and knew they would be perfect for my Rooster. I raided my Batik stash and came up with a nice assortment. 

What would work well with a poultry appliqué? Why burlap of course! I wasn't yet sure how a burlap backed rooster would be placed on a piece of background fabric that I hadn't auditioned yet, but I liked the combination and went with it.

I machine appliquéd the rooster body onto a lined burlap piece.

I have a fun pressor foot that I love using...It's a Loop/Fringe foot made by Baby Lock. 

Here's a great tutorial on using the foot....because there is an easy process to getting the look you want. (Believe me when I say it's an easy process)

It gives any project a fantastic look and texture!

I used machine embroidery thread to make the fringe in order to give the Rooster tail a little shine. 

When I made the rooster/burlap combination I didn't know exactly how I was going to use it in my overall wall hanging design.  I placed it on my background fabric that I'd finally chosen and a light bulb went off! Oh my...it looks like a Moon...It looks like a rooster against a moon backdrop! It looks like a rooster walking on a stone wall against a moon backdrop! A name for my project promptly came to my head!

The next step was to design the garden.  I loved the flowers depicted in the painting The Dream and gained the inspiration I needed to create my moonlit garden. 

I appliquéd and stitched detail into my garden flowers and greenery. 

And here you have it.... my completed textile artwork...

"Rooster Crowing in the Moonlit Garden"

I took advantage of my real life inspiration and one hen even posed during the photo op!

I hope you've been inspired by my creation. Continue to be inspired by visiting the other participants that are posting today and though out the week. 

Monday, May 9th, 2016

• Maartje (http://quiltinginamsterdam.blogspot.com)
• Lee Anna (http://lapaylor.blogspot.com/)
• Andrée (http://quiltinglearningcombo.blogspot.com)
• Renee (http://www.quiltsofafeather.com/)

Tuesday, May 10th, 2016

• Kathy (http://qreativequilts.blogspot.com/)
• Yvonne (http://quiltingjetgirl.com/)
• Chris (http://chrissquiltinguniverse.blogspot.com/)
• DeAnna (http://southernbellessewcreative.blogspot.com/)

Wednesday, May 11th, 2016

• Alida (http://tweloquilting.blogspot.com/)
• Yanicka (http://yanickahachez.blogspot.com/)
• Heather (http://www.heatherquilts.blogspot.com/)
• Sarah (http://georgiagirlquilts.blogspot.com/)

Thursday, May 12th, 2016

• Cynthia (http://cynthiasark.blogspot.com.au/)
• Janeen (http://quiltartdesigns.blogspot.com/)
• Wendy (http://www.kwiltkrazy.com)
• Afton (http://www.quiltingmod.blogspot.com/)

Friday, May 13th, 2016

• Carol (http://www.quiltedfabricart.com/)
• Jennifer (http://www.inquiringquilter.com)
• Nina-Marie (http://ninamariesayre.blogspot.com/)
• Joan (http://www.moosestashquilting.blogspot.com/)

Thanks for stopping by and have a fun week of being inspired.

Live On!

Quilt On!

Art with Fabric Blog Hop

I'm sew excited about participating in the Art with Fabric Blog Hop hosted by Alida at  Tweety Loves Quilting. She has a week long line-up in place beginning Monday, May 9th.

Participants were asked to create textile artwork inspired by a piece of art...painting, sculpture, drawing, etc. I was hesitant at first because 1) I had to come out of my comfort zone and design something different; 2) I'm not an artist; 3) I no nothing about fine art.

After a few days of thinking about it and viewing artwork on the internet I found an artist who's works really spoke to me. Creative ideas immediately started flowing through my head and I decided to participate in the hop. I'm so glad I did because I've had such fun creating my project! And you know,  it's not all that different than what I really like to do and it allowed me to come out of my comfort zone during the creative process.

Visit Tweety Loves Quilting next Monday, May 9th to start the hop and I'm sure you'll be inspired too. My day to present is May 10th. Come back to see my textile artwork and who the artist was that inspired me.

Here is a preview of my artwork:

Hope you come back next Tuesday, May 10th to view the completed piece.

Quilt On!

Live On!

Dear Jane....Oh I mean Insane Jane!

For the past 8 or so months I've been working...not steadily...on my Dear Jane blocks. What a challenge they are, but it's a fun challenge! I'm lovin' the paper piecing aspect of creating the blocks and finally getting into that groove.  Since I will probably only go through the process once in creating a Dear Jane quilt I'm doing three at one time...increasing my insanity x3! I'm creating a black and white DJ, a batik DJ, and I'm digitizing the blocks and creating an embroidered DJ. That makes my total blocks to complete an insane 625. But I can do it....I can do it. I'm in a Dear Jane Support Group and we meet once a month. We have a great time....dinner, then a show and tell and discussion about the assigned block of the month.

Here are the blocks I've completed. I still have a long long way to go!

Need to do the black and white version of this one.

This one has 40 patches in the 4.5 inch square. It's the block that has the most pieces. At least I got that one done. Now moving on to the blocks that have 39, 38, 37 pieces...haha!

Thanks for visiting.

Quilt On!

Live On!

Jennie's Star

Mom has been working hard on her Lone Star Quilt....and getting it done! The colors are bright, happy, and awesome! The Star measures 58 x 58 inches and contains 288 diamond pieces. She wants to make it into a Queen size quilt...so you know what that means...some beautiful borders are in the works. I'll post updates as her progress continues.

Mom always does a great job with her quilts.  

I dearly enjoy Mom being here with me in Oklahoma and cherish the time we spend together sewing, quilting, shopping, cooking, drinking our morning coffee together and watching Days of Our Lives (thanks Mom for getting me hooked on that!) Just to name of few of our activities. 

Thanks for visiting.

Live On!

Quilt On!

Tissue Box Cover

This is the cutest thing! A friend of my mother's made it years ago....like 30 or so years ago (when blue and mauve were popular...and that's been quite a while). My sister had it displayed at her house and it brought a huge smile to my face.

I wanted to re-create this little sofa tissue box holder so I thoroughly examined it, deconstructed it in my head, took several measurements with the tape measure and snapped several photos at different angles.

When I returned home I couldn't wait to get started on creating a sofa for myself. I dug through my scrap box, found fabric and began to work on re-creating the pattern. This is the prototype I came up with.....

I can see this with faux leather fabric and some really cool pillows embellished with buttons and lace...leather and lace always looks good together. 

Have a great evening. Thanks for stopping by!

Live On!

Quilt On!

Quilters are Giving People

I'm happy to be associated with such an awesome group...

the QUILTING/SEWING GROUP!

The majority of people who reside in this group love sharing their ideas on quilting and sewing, whether it's tips and hints, reviews on all things quilty, reviews on sewing machines, and tutorials about creating some of the most awesome quilt blocks and quilts....old and new, traditional or modern....and I'm happy to say that most of it is free information!

I was recently searching the web and my brain realized without really thinking of the generosity of the quilting and sewing group as compared to other crafting disciplines. Now, understand something, and don't go tellin' your bestie that I was puttin' down on other crafty disciplines...I'm not...but...MY GOSH...there is such a wealth of free information out there that's shared by the quilter and sewist. What a great way to make sure our craft continues through the generations!

Quilt and Sewing people Rock!

Here are some of the sites I've found just this weekend:

Here's a Block of the Month that is just now starting over at Quilt Addicts Anonymous. I signed up while I was visiting.  The quilt looks really awesome!

Lori Holt has a Bloom Sew Along starting.

 The quilt looks awesome! Check it out at Bee in My Bonnet

Pat Sloan and Jane Davidson are starting a Mystery Quilt that consist of 100 blocks. Two blocks will be released each week.  You can find more information at Splendid Sampler.

LifeSewCrafty is hosting the DCMQG 2016 Quilt-Along. She has some amazing colorways posted to help with your color options. Looks like it's going to be fun.


Westering Women Block of the Month will celebrate the women who walked west on the overland trails. The blocks will be 12" and include a history lesson about America's westward movement.


In Our Garden Block of the Month will include 11 separate bloggers sharing patterns for free! They will be offering appliqué and traditionally pieced blocks.

Pinterest also has so much to offer in the way of tutorials and ideas. I think I now prefer to search Pinterest rather than Google! At least I have oodles and oodles of pictures to feast my eyes and brain upon.

If you know of a tutorial, Mystery quilt or Quilt Along or anything related to our craft,  please share the link in the comments. It's a good way to spread information about the craft we all love and are so obsessed with.

Thanks for stopping by.

Quilt On!
Live Strong!